Anyone have any idea how old this Leupold scope is?

[Buckshot]

..............This scope came on a M93 Marlin (made in 1906) in 38-55.

http://www.fototime.com/47DD87E404FADAE/standard.jpg

I bought it from a gunshop in Upper New York State many years ago.

http://www.fototime.com/5E8D3A65F0ED412/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/45BE569277920CB/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/B27462B25DCEB32/standard.jpg

The recticle is a tapered post and crosshair. Elevation and windage are controlled by the 2 rings around the tube, which is 3/4" in diameter. The scope is nice and clear.

..................Buckshot

[35 shooter]

I'm a leupold fan, but didn't know they had ever made anything like that.
That's a neat piece of history you have there.

I have a couple of the old m8 fixed powers i bought about 40 years ago that have seen a ton of rough use, but don't have a clue about your model.
I'll be very interested in the replies you get to this.

Do the adjustments still work on it?

[Shawlerbrook]

If you search Leupold history on their website they show a scope like that introduced in the 1940's. I'm guessing yours is from right after WW2. Very cool !

[Ballistics in Scotland]

As to date, I know only that although it is a long established instrument company, they only started making scopes after the Second World War, and I would think they went over to more conventional internal adjustment by the late 1950s.

I have a ⅞in. Zeiss scope in external adjustment mounts to Leupold's patent 2493254 of 1950, which commonly went with their Pioneer scope. Mine has internal range adjustments, marked for .22 rimfire, so the external ones, which are extremely robust, are useful. Production mounts were improved on the patent drawings, with split rings hinged on one side and a front attachment by setscrews into a V-ring like the rear, instead of permitting vertical movement by a spherical version of the common American front ring dovetail.

But the Pioneer was external adjustment only. The chances are that this dates your scope before the Pioneer and 2493254 system came into use, and if I understand US patent law correctly, they would have protection from 1947, when the application was filed. The Pioneer was a very adequate scope for its day, but I have seen it said that it wasn't as good as the Lyman Alaskan, and it is unlikely that your scope was significantly cheaper. So it is likely to have been short-lived in the market, and probably quite rare.


179566


Does the reticle move to adjust it, rather than the image move against a fixed reticle? That isn't everybody's preference, but I think that in a fairly early scope it would be more likely to hold its adjustment under heavy recoil. 2493254

[Lloyd Smale]

sure is the oldest leupold I ever saw. You ought to contact them. They might be interested in buying it from you.

[tomme boy]

Thats a beauty right there! 52 or so from what a OLD neighbor told me when I just went and showed him the pic of it. He has an almost exact gun as the one you show. Minus the peep sight.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

sure is the oldest leupold I ever saw. You ought to contact them. They might be interested in buying it from you.

It might well be the oldest Leupold anybody ever saw. I don't know about collector value, which often depends heavily on condition, or whether Leupold would want an example. They have had plenty of time to get one. But they would probably be interested enough to tell you what it is.

Here is a website with some pretty good information on blackening brass. Optical glass is more subject to chemical attack than the window and drinking varieties, so I would use some kind of rubber bung to make sure they aren't touched. The story is that Marcus Leupold was just an instrument maker until he missed a deer because his scope had fogged up, and said "I could make a better scope than this." I don't know if it will be nitrogen filled - most likely not. But I imagine the adjuster rings have pretty good seals to keep the outside from the inside.

http://www.finishing.com/1000-1199/1198.shtml

[pietro]

.


ca.1947 is correct: https://www.leupold.com/about-us/leupold-living-history/



.

[M-Tecs]

Leupold Plainsman. It was their first scope in 1947.

[buckshotshoey]

That would look GREAT on a lever gun. Very clean looking without the adjustment knobs. With modern improvements, if they would even be necessary, it might be a good seller in todays market. Are you listening Leupold?

[Ballistics in Scotland]

You will see a lot of scorn poured on scopes like this, and even more modern-seeming ones of the 60s, but you have to imagine the effect on someone who had never used a scope before. It must have seemed like a whole new world.

[beemer]

I have a copy of Old Rifle Scopes, according to this reference 1947 is correct. Price is listed at $64.50, that was a nice chunk of change at that time.

Leupold & Stevens made scientific and engineering instruments starting in the early 20's and the first rifle scopes in about 1947.

Nice looking old rifle by the way.

Dave

[Scharfschuetze]

Nice scope and it probably looks perfect on that old Marlin.

Here is my oldest Leuopod scope. It's an external adjustment 7/8" 4X Pioneer on a 1951 Winchester Model 70. It's perfectly clear and sharp and to my eye is the equal of the old Lyman Alaskan.

Second scope is a 7/8" early 90s Leuopold Alaskan 4X on a 1948 Winchester Model 70.

[Texas by God]

You will see a lot of scorn poured on scopes like this, and even more modern-seeming ones of the 60s, but you have to imagine the effect on someone who had never used a scope before. It must have seemed like a whole new world.
Well put. I remember the first time I looked though a 1" scope on a center fire rifle- my eye got as big as the ocular lens!

[osteodoc08]

That is really cool.

[Kestrel4k]

I've been to Leupold and have seen their display cases; sorry to say but they already have a /very/ nice example of one of these for public viewing. :-)

I have a bunch of pics from my last visit; sometime I'll get around to posting them. :-/

[Buckshot]

I'm a leupold fan, but didn't know they had ever made anything like that.
That's a neat piece of history you have there.

I have a couple of the old m8 fixed powers i bought about 40 years ago that have seen a ton of rough use, but don't have a clue about your model.
I'll be very interested in the replies you get to this.

Do the adjustments still work on it?

............Yes, the adjustment rings work just fine and the scope is clear. Whoever owned the rifle before I bought it (assuming one owner, but who knows?) used it, but took care of it. Case colors on the action are still sharp in protected ares, and there was no rust or signs of mistreatment, but it had obviously been carried. I never shot the rifle with the scope on it, but I did check the scope out for operation, but I had no intent on shooting it using a scope, regardless of vintage.

I really do appreciate the information you all provided on this scope. Again, it appears to me from the scopes' condition that it had been handled and carried, but shows no evidence of being dropped or otherwise abused.

..............Buckshot

[tomme boy]

Buckshot, good to see you posting more often again!

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Ten or twelve years ago I went with a friend to the Scottish Country Fair near Inverness, and on a sales table I saw a scope, a Voigtlander I think but unbranded, in a moulded leather case stamped "for the Ross rifle". That would make it perhaps just after but more likely before the First World War.

What surprised me, considering its age, was that in most light conditions nobody would have found a thing wrong with it. It was marked £20, but the national heritage dies hard, so I hesitated with an artistic display of nonchalance in the hope of a reduction. I don't know if it convinced the seller, but it convinced my friend, for he jumped in and bought it, and I didn't have the heart to protest. Greater love hath no man than this...

[tim338]

That scope is great.. Any chance you want to sell it?

[flyin brian]

Yeah... neat scope, but HELLOOOOO what about that fine looking Marlin!?! Is there a thread on it here that I might have missed? I have 5 1893s, all of them in 38-55 and that one looks like it would be on the top shelf of my meager collection ;)

Post it up... especially interested in getting a closer look at that front sight.

[Buckshot]

Brian,

Thank you for your interest in the rifle I have but it is really just a standard 1893 with 2 exceptions. One is that it has the 'S' type butt plate, which I understand Marlin fitted fairly indiscriminately, or it could be ordered without issue. And the half octagon/round barrel was also an option, but might have been found in a rack thus fitted. It's main attraction to me, now that I have it was that the rifle was obviously used, and just as obviously it was valued by the previous owner(s).

It has no dings or dents, but it has the accepted signs of being carried and used. There is still color case hardening evident in the protected areas but the rifle had been no safe queen, as just as evident at the front of the action and rear of the forend it had been carried. The bore is in excellent condition, so it had been cared for. The original front sight that was on the rifle had apparently been made using a silver quarter, cut and shaped and fitted into a replacement dovetail. However when I got it it had the scope fitted, so the front sight blade alteration must have been done at some previous time.

The front sight it's wearing now was some old sight (provenience unknown) I'd bought from GPC years ago). The sight base is threaded 40 TPI and the blade has a post of the same pitch. There is a tiny setscrew on the front of the base to lock the post in position. It's serial number places it's manufacture as being 1906, and it's groove is .376". I'd owned it for several years before I'd ever slugged it and had been feeding it cast lead slugs sized .381" :-). I purchased it in the mid '90's from a gunshop located in upper NY State who had an add in the Shotgun News.

http://www.fototime.com/1BADD2284797AF1/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/9F5891A7D1FCEBE/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/9B6139BD46243C8/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/AD326EF2BBA0D5F/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/1B284DC94ADF118/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/34A89A527939537/standard.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/DE1E295134EDA35/standard.jpg

These are the other photo's I have of the rifle.

................Buckshot

[Scharfschuetze]

Getting off topic, but...

That sure is a nice Marlin Buckshot.

Here's a similar 1893 that's been in the family for well over a hundred years. No telling how many mule deer it downed in Western Colorado over the years. It will still shoot quite well at 200 yards and further using cast boolits at the bore is still very sharp and uniform.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

http://www.fototime.com/47DD87E404FADAE/standard.jpg

I do like Buckshot's half-magazine, like the button magazine on my Winchester 94. Of course rifles vary in all sorts of ways, but I've always thought you are more likely to get consistent accuracy without shifting weight and a full-length magazine hanging onto the front end. All those cartridges just give you the chance to do a lot more missing, and the Indians don't circle the wagons any more.

[Buckshot]

..............My grandfather had a 1893 Marlin, but he just 'Had' it as it was bought by my great grandfather. It was the standard Marlin rifle, and was chambered in 30-30. It had the regular straight taper 26" octagon barrel and full length magazine, and the crescent buttplate. When grandpa was dispersing the firearms I took the NRA Sporter Springfield, and a Wm Moore double 12 ga muzzle loading shotgun along with a 1862 Colt Police 36 cal revolver. My next younger brother took the Marlin and has subsequently given it to his eldest son.

My Grandfather's older brother (Monroe) had been the Constable for a small nearby town, named Bryn Mawr CA and my uncle (mother's brother) got his pistol. Monroe passed away before I was born. It was a Colt 1911 in 38 Super, with the original box, cleaning brush and instruction sheet and 2, two toned magazines. I'd seen it and fooled with it before, but I cared nothing for pistols then. Grandpa tells the story that one day the phone rang and it was (San Bernardino police I suppose) advising him that a black man had raped a women and was last seen heading up the Southern Pacific tracks toward Bryn Mawr. Grandpa said Monroe dropped the Colt in his coat pocket, got the Marlin and they jumped in the Model T and headed to town.

At that time there were 4 citrus packing houses in Bryn Mawr. I remember them as a kid, and it seemed that one of'em burned down each 4th of July :-)One on each corner where Barton Rd crossed the RR tracks, along with the ice sheds used to store the blocks of ice used to refrigerate the boxcars. Sure enough they spotted a a black male, and Monroe hollered at him. Grandpa said they chased each other around and around some boxcars until Monroe unlimbered the Colt and took a few shots at the guy from under one of the railcars. At this juncture the guy took off across a field, and Monroe climbed up on top of one of the box cars. Grandpa said Monroe hollered at him to stop. The guy apparently turned around and Monroe shot at him with the Marlin.

Grandpa said he fell down in the weeds, but soon jumped up and took off, and that was the end of the story. I recall asking him if the guy was ever caught and Grandpa said he didn't know, but didn't think so. I should ask my aunt if she still has that Colt. Probably not as my uncle died in 1978 and she re-married in 1980. My 3 cousins (2 girls and a guy) would have surely shot themselves or someone else if they had it, as they neither know nor care anything for firearms.

................Buckshot

[Geezer in NH]

I would mount that scope right back where it came from. Classic deer gun IMHO

Gun has been drilled and tapped so put it back!!!

[flyin brian]

Well, as I suspected, that thing is a real beauty!!! Thanks for sharing the pics, buckshot.

I have one that is very similar, except for the half octo/half round barrel. Mine is about 20K over the highest serial number for the Cody records, so no way to tell exactly when it was made but I am guessing around 1908 or so. It's chambered in 38-55 and has an original Lyman 2A tang site that was completely frozen up when I got it. Took me a while to get it to work but it is fine now.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q295/Flyin_Brian/Marlin/1893_437/02412f43-b220-4edd-917c-d8601897674a_zps45dbd325.jpg